Blog Tour: Lucy Christopher's Favourite Crime Novels

I'm very pleased to welcome Lucy Christopher to Teenage Fiction for All Ages and as part of the blog tour to celebrate the release of The Killing Woods, Lucy will be sharing her five favourite crime novels.

Here's a bit about The Killing Woods:

Emily's dad is accused of murdering a teenage girl in the woods behind her house, the place she played in as a child. She's sure he's innocent, but what did happen? Determined to find out - and afraid of what she might discover - Emily seeks out the boyfriend of the murdered girl. He also knows these woods. Maybe they could help each other. But Damon Hillary has his own secrets about the dangerous games that are being played in the dark.







Lucy Christopher's Five Favourite Crime Novels


The Famous Five Series, Enid Blyton

Perhaps these novels aren’t strictly a crime series, but I grew up with the Famous Five and it’s hard not to imagine that my early reading of these stories of young people tackling crime and dark deeds hasn’t influenced me at least a little bit. Blyton’s trademark series was published between 1942 and 1961 so they are a little dated now, but at the heart of each one is a crime to be solved. Reading these novels, I grew up with dreams of going camping and foiling smugglers and the like. They aren’t dark or too serious or grizzly, but they’re full of heart and adventure.




Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

There’s not much to say about this book that someone else hasn’t already said. It’s a sensation. As a Creative Writing lecturer as well as a writer, sometimes I find it hard to appreciate a new book on both the story and craft level, but I felt no such difficulty with this one. It’s interestingly plotted and intricately written. It also had the true marker of a good crime novel – it kept me up reading until the small hours of the morning.




You Against Me, Jenny Downham

Like The Killing Woods, You Against Me also contains a dual narration between a boy and a girl. Both of these characters are trying to uncover the truth of the most serious event of their lives up to now – the sexual abuse of a girl they both know. Part of the reason I like this book so much, aside from the fact that it’s so well written, is that Downham’s approach to the subject matter is bold and fresh and utterly convincing. This is emotional, skilful writing. UK YA at its best.






I Am the Cheese, Robert Cormier

Entering the YA library somewhere in between The Famous Five and Gone Girl, Cormier’s 1977 novel has been a favourite of mine since I first read it. This book is not afraid to break rules – you only have to look at its deeply layered, twist-filled plot to see this. The first person narration never wavers as Adam gradually begins to uncover the mystery of who he really is and what happened to his parents.




The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Is a detective story the same as a crime story? You can’t have a detective without a crime, and you can’t think of detectives for too long without coming back to the prototype for the modern detective. Holmes is an interesting and strong protagonist, focused to the point of obsession, often alienating those around him: an early anti-hero. The Hound of the Baskervilles is the quintessential Sherlock Holmes’ story - full of mystery, suspense and a brilliantly moody setting.





Many thanks to Lucy Christopher for stopping by and thanks to Riot Communications and Chicken House for arranging it.

Catch-up with the rest of the Tour here.

Blog Tour: #MurderontheBeach

I'm very pleased to welcome Kate Harrison back to Teenage Fiction for All Ages. Today she's joined by James Dawson and they will be interviewing each other as part of the #murderonthebeach blog tour to celebrate the release of Soul Storm and Cruel Summer.

I'm not going to say too much about Soul Storm as it's the final part of the Soul Beach trilogy, other than it is a murder-mystery with a paranormal element. here are my reviews of the first two parts: Soul Beach and Soul Fire.

Here's the blurb for Cruel Summer: A year after the suicide of one of their friends, the rest of the group decide to spend the summer together in a holiday villa in the Mediterranean. They're hoping to get over the terrible events of the previous year, but then a new guest arrives - claiming to have evidence that the suicide was actually murder. When she is found dead, it becomes clear that the killer must be one of them - but who is it? And will they strike again? A compelling psychological thriller - with a dash of romance.

Ever wondered what authors talk about when they get together? We asked #murderonthebeach authors Kate Harrison and James Dawson to interview each other via Facebook – here are the results!

Kate Harrison: Morning, James! We're supposed to be interviewing each other, so I get to ask all the questions I've always wanted the answers to... like, what's your writing routine? I want the real version, not the 'I work out, write 5,000 words before breakfast' stuff most writers claim they do.

James Dawson: Hi Kate. Given that I'm still in my pyjamas at 9.40 this is clearly not the case! Usually I do try to be writing before 10, but I actually do go to the gym most days at some point in the morning. Then I write until about 6 and have the evenings off unless I'm on a really strict deadline. How about you?

K: Impressive! Well, I am in my gym kit, which is my way of trying to make sure I actually go. Writing full-time from home five years now means I have to shift my writer's booty or it expands very quickly! My routine is get up, do loads of social media, answer emails around writing, and then try to do some ACTUAL writing. I try to write against the clock, otherwise I get really distracted.

So what was Cruel Summer like to write? Loads of writers suffer quite badly with Second Book Syndrome, where they get scared about doing it again. Was that a problem after Hollow Pike did so well?

J: You are looking amazing at the moment! Are you still 5:2ing?

K: *Blushes*. Yes, I've been on this 5:2 diet now for a year. In fact, this Friday is my 'Fastiversary' - exactly 12 months since I first tried this. Since then I've lost loads of weight, written two books about the diet (including a cookbook, yummy) and met 10,000 new dieters on Facebook. But I've been dying to get back to fiction, so it's exciting that Soul Storm is out.

You're not avoiding my question about 2nd book syndrome, are you?

J: Cruel Summer was a funny one. Initially I had envisaged a Hollow Pike sequel as the next book and had more or less written it before I got a book deal (rookie mistake), so in a weird way Cruel Summer is actually my third book! That said it was a leap into the unknown because while the characters in Hollow Pike were based on faces from my past, the Cruel Summer gang were original creations. I did worry that fans of Hollow Pike wouldn't welcome the characters in the same way that they did the Hollow Pike gang, but early reviews have been great, thank God!

How do you feel at the end of the Soul Beach Saga? That must be YEARS of your life?!

K: Yep. Years. About five since I first thought, 'ooh, I wonder what a social network for the dead would be like, where teens could carry on with the lives they're missing out on.' It was more emotional than I expecting, finishing it off. I don't often cry or get spooked or scared when I am writing, but this time I did all three. I was very conscious that I had to finish it in an exciting way for all the readers - including my mum - who'd invested so much time in the trilogy. The first reports are that I managed it, phew...

Cruel Summer feels quite different to me from Hollow Pike. I love both but I think so far *haven't finished so no spoilers* Cruel Summer has the edge. Why the change?

J: I think I have a clearer idea of my brand as an author now; a better understanding of what is it I do well. I think they both have my fingerprints all over them - hopefully snappy dialogue, cliff-hanger chapter endings, creepy imagery - but I agree that Cruel Summer has a clearer voice and perhaps a little more originality.

I can't wait to read Soul Storm. I really think Soul Beach is one of the most original concepts in YA. Will there be further teen offerings from you?

K: Thank you. I definitely plan to write more YA and have about three ideas buzzing round my head right now. They are all quite different - scary but also emotional I think. For me, it's never been about writing for a genre or an age group, it's about writing the stories and ideas that fascinate me, but the brilliant thing about writing for teenage readers is they are so open to mixing it up. I've written novels for them and for women, TV scripts, and now even this diet book. But I think I always come back to the same themes: being tested to your limit, being scared but also excited by what the future holds, and ALWAYS the importance of friendships.

Right now, though, I am working on some short stories and also ideas for my next adult novel as well. How about you?

J: I agree - YA works so well because it's such an open playing field. You can do pretty much anything unconstrained by adult literary rules or adult genre rules.

I have just finished SAY HER NAME which is a proper, actually scary horror YA so I'm frantically trying to finish what will be my second non-fiction book. The deadline is looming.

K: Can't wait!

But talking of deadlines. I reckon that's our cue to finish this and get writing/going to the gym. But I thought it'd be good to share what we're reading right now. I am most of the way through an adult novel, Dearest Rose, by Rowan Coleman, and then it's Fractured by Teri Terry, the follow-up to her brilliant Slated. Too many books, too little time...

J: No! But then I’ll have to do actual work! But you're right of course. I'm presently reading something VERY exciting - a YA offering from an adult author before moving on to Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo!

K: Must get that one next. Fun chatting to you, Mr D. Hope you have a very excellent summer with Cruel Summer - #murderonthebeach is going to run and run!

Thanks so much Kate and James for your interview and Indigo for arranging it.

Look out for reviews of both these books soon on Teenage Fiction for All Ages.

The blog tour continues tomorrow at Winged Reviews.

Blog Tour: From What I Remember

I'm very pleased to welcome Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas to Teenage Fiction For All Ages as part of a blog tour supporting the release of From What I Remember.

Life is nothing like you planned. Even when you've planned absolutely everything. Kylie Flores - class brain and movie addict - has been planning her big graduation day speech for three months. A scholarship student, she would never dream of mixing with the likes of Max Langston - rich, undeniably handsome and athletic, but totally dead from the neck up. So it's a total mystery when Kylie wakes up in Mexico, with the hangover from hell, in a bed she doesn't recognise, next to Max - and they are both wearing wedding bands...Rewind 48 hours to find out just how and why they got there!


Today they are interviewing each other:

Having answered numerous questions asked by bloggers, journalists and fans, we thought it might be fun to turn the tables and interview each other and what we discovered is that no matter how well you know someone, there’s always something new to learn…

STACY: WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST WRITERLY FAULT, AND HOW DO YOU COPE WITH IT?

VALERIE: Oooh, going right for the jugular?

STACY: Yeah, I thought I’d come out swinging.

VALERIE: Don’t you want to start with more of a softball question? Like my favorite food. I think that’s how it’s done in these interviews.

STACY: I’m new at this. I’m going with a hardball.

VALERIE: Okay, fine. Have it your way. Well, I think I can rely too much on conventions and clichés, particularly in the early stages of a book. It’s very hard to think outside of these conventions, especially with my filmic background (which relies heavily on tropes), but what I’ve learned to do is build on them in original ways, turn the clichés on their head, hopefully.

STACY: See, that wasn’t so bad.

VALERIE: Knocked it out of the park, I’d say.

STACY: Well, let’s not get carried away.

VALERIE: WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION FOR WRITING FROM WHAT I REMEMBER?

STACY: Well, I think it was both our inspirations.

VALERIE: Probably, but this is your question.

STACY: Okay, well, after working in the film industry for years (and continuing to do so to this day), I’ve watched the films that studios produce change dramatically. The kind of movies that I’ve both worked on and always loved, movies for teens like CLUELESS or all the John Hughes movies aren’t getting made anymore. Instead, the landscape is dominated by action blockbusters. I wanted to write a book that would have the same fun, adventure and emotional resonance of those films. I hope we succeeded.

STACY: WHAT CHARMS WOULD YOU PUT ON THE CHARM BRACELET OF YOUR LIFE?

VALERIE: Fun question. Wasn’t expecting that one.

STACY: Yeah, I’m all over the place with my questions. Hardballs, softballs, no balls.

VALERIE: I have no idea what that means.

STACY: Me either.

VALERIE: Moving on. I’m just going to answer the question then. First I’d have a Chinese character, because I’m half Chinese, a gold heart, because I’m lucky to have a lot of love in my life. A surf board, because I lived in Hawaii and learned to surf there and it’s one of my favorite things to do in the world. A pen, because I’m a writer. A piece of fruit, because I love to eat and that seems like a more aesthetically pleasing charm than other food options. And finally, the letter A, for my daughter Amelia.

STACY: Well played, Val. I’m not sure I could have come up with as many good charm ideas.

VALERIE: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO WRITE?
STACY: I love writing in my bed but my back doctor claims I’m going to need surgery on my shoulder if I don’t get out of my bed and into an ergonomic chair. I think some of my best ideas come to me in bed.

VALERIE: You have a shoulder issue?

STACY: You didn’t know?

VALERIE: No. Glad we did this interview.

STACY: I have something called frozen shoulder which happens from writing in an non-ergonomically conducive seating situation. Hence the need to get out of bed and into one of those hideously ugly black chairs that I’ve yet to buy.

STACY: WHAT'S THE BEST WRITING ADVICE ANYONE HAS EVER GIVEN YOU?

VALERIE: Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Once you spit out the vomit draft, the real writing begins. The best writing comes in the rewriting.

VALERIE: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO TRAVEL?

STACY: Asia.

VALERIE: Really? That’s funny since I’m always hearing about how sick you get while traveling abroad.

STACY: I know. It’s true. I’m a human sponge for disease. I appear to have no immunity and have visited hospitals in nearly every part of the world. When I’m not getting sick, I really enjoy Asia though.

ALERIE: Maybe you just like Asian hospitals.

STACY: You make a good point. Some were models of efficiency.

STACY: OKAY, I KNOW THIS IS GOING TO BE A TOUGH QUESTION FOR YOU BUT JUST TRY TO IMAGINE THAT WE COULDN’T WRITE TOGETHER. WHO WOULD YOUR DREAM COLLABORATOR BE?

VALERIE: It’s true, I can’t imagine not writing with you. It would be devastating. However, in the event that that happens, I’d have to choose John Green. I love his writing.

STACY: Excellent choice. But please don’t leave me for John Green.

VALERIE: WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A YOUNG PERSON, OR EVEN YOUR YOUNGER SELF ABOUT LOVE?

STACY: I’d say fall in love with someone who makes you laugh. I know it’s a huge cliché but it’s so true. I’ve been with guys who were gorgeous or really, really smart but, ultimately, the thing that makes love stick (and this is speaking from the perspective of someone who’s been with the same person for nearly twenty years) is humor. In the long run, you’re going to need to laugh together at all the shit life throws at you.

STACY: IF SOMEONE HAD A BEHIND-THE-SCENES PASS TO OBSERVE YOUR WRITING PROCESS WHAT WOULD THEY SEE?

VALERIE: Sadly, nothing that exciting. I work at home, where no one can see me (unless the UPS man comes), so I’m often wearing my gym clothes, or worse (p.j.’s). You’d see a lot of web surfing (from FB to Pinterest to twitter to news blogs), a lot of talking on the phone to you (Stacy), a lot of tea drinking and snacking and then, anywhere from between six to nine hours of actual writing (some successful, some less so). Once school lets out my daughter gets home so you’d see her roaming about, interrupting me and either forcing me to stop writing or lock the door, depending on whether or not I have a deadline.

STACY: You lock the door?

VALERIE: No. Not really, hyperbole used for effect. Mostly we work out some kind of compromise so I can finish writing. A bit of video games or TV buys me an hour more of writing.

VALERIE: OKAY, HERE’S SOFTBALL QUESTION, WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ICE CREAM?

STACY: Green tea.

VALERIE: Seriously? Out of all the flavors in the world like salty caramel or crème brulee or toffee crunch, that’s your favorite??

STACY: I know, pretty lame. What can I say. I’m not the hugest ice cream fan. VALERIE: I’d say so. Green tea is kind of an insult to ice cream. You’re more of a tea fan.

STACY: Don’t hold back, tell me what you really think.

VALERIE: You know I always do.

STACY: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?

VALERIE: Dim Sum.

STACY: Really? I had no idea you were such a fan of Dim Sum. I actually hate it. VALERIE: Well you’re missing out!

VALERIE: WHAT IS YOUR DREAM CAST FOR THE MOVIE?

STACY: Shainlene Woodley as Kylie, Logan Lerman as Max and Ezra Miller as Will. Can you tell I loved PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER?

VALERIE: Yeah, just a little. What about Emma Watson?

STACY: Love her but just don’t think she’s right for Kylie and by the time Paramount Pictures (the company that bought the movie rights to the book) gets around to making the movie of the book, Shainlee Woodley will probably be too old.

VALERIE: Fingers crossed they make the movie soon! They’re working on a script now so it could happen anytime.

STACY: OKAY, IF YOU COULD INVITE ANY FIVE WRITERS TO A DINNER WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

VALERIE: Good question.

STACY: Why thank you.

VALERIE: Hmmm, this is a toughie. So many too choose from. I love dinner parties and nothing is more fun that a table of writers. I’m going to go with people who are all alive (as choosing from the dead would be too difficult, I’d be here forever trying to decide), so I’m thinking Martin Amis, Junot Diaz, Aravind Adiga, J. K. Rowling and Judy Blume because they are all favorites of mine and cover of broad spectrum of interests and would offer up some scintillating conversation. And I think I’d be serving paella with a kale ceasar salad with a flourless chocolate cake for dessert.

STACY: Nice. Can I come?

VALERIE: Sure.

STACY: Lovely interviewing you Ms. Thomas. I learned a lot.

VALERIE: Same here Ms. Kramer. Now get back to work, we’ve got two new books to finish!

Many thanks to Stacy and Valerie for their post and to Electric Monkey for arranging it.

The previous stop on the tour was at The Overflowing Library.
The next stop is at Feeling Fictional.

Blog Tour: Kate Harrison - Playing with Fire

To celebrate the release of Soul Fire, the second part of the Soul Beach trilogy, I'm very pleased to welcome Kate Harrison back for another guest post.

In her first guest post she spoke about the thriller elements to her series and this time she tries to scare herself in the name of research!

Soul Beach, the first part of the trilogy has been a great success and I'll be tucking into Soul Fire very shortly.

Playing with Fire -

 why do we love to scare ourselves silly?

 I don’t make a habit of offering dating tips, but here’s one you might find useful: if you want to be a hit with your date, scare them!

Yes, research shows that we’re more likely to be attracted to someone if we’re a little bit frightened when we meet. I’m not suggesting you turn up in a Halloween mask carrying an axe. Better to go to a funfair or – as the researchers did – arrange to meet on a high bridge. The object of your desire will feel their pulse quicken – and that might well make them want to see you again.

Craving fear?

Fear is weird – why would we crave a feeling that should warn us against danger? Yet most of us do seek thrills – whether it’s watching a scary movie, or bungee-jumping into a ravine.

As a first-time thriller writer (my Soul Beach trilogy follows seven romantic comedies), it’s something I have a professional interest in. I want to keep readers on the edge of their seats. So, even though I’m a bit of a scaredy-cat myself, I’ve decided to try to terrify myself in the interests of research – to understand why we love fear.

Scare test 1: scary books

I recently unpacked a box of childhood books – and one of my most read was the Beaver Book of Horror – but now I tend to favour reading funny novels. So, as stage 1 of my experiment, I bought Kindle edition of Hold my Hand by my friend Serena Mackesy which has lots of reviews saying how frightening it is.

Result: I really loved it and kept reading but was actually too distracted by the terrific writing and setting to be properly scared. Plus, it’s a ghost story and I’m not convinced ghosts exist. So my results:

  

Fear Factor: 2/10

Fun Factor: 9/10

Scare test 2: scary movies

The first movie I remember really scaring me as an adult was Pacific Heights, about a crazy lodger. At the time, I was living in a shared house with a rather psychotic landlord… so, maybe one of the key factors is feeling that the cause of fear is close to home.

Result: That could explain why my randomised sample – Final Destination, The Walking Dead, Contagion – didn’t scare me at all. I am no longer in high school and I hope I’m unlikely to encounter zombies soon (though Brighton on a Saturday night does have its similarities).

I am Legend scared me a tiny bit – but only because I was worried about that poor dog. And with all of these movies or shows, the pleasure is undermined by the feeling that we’re being manipulated so obviously.

Fear Factor: 5/10

Fun Factor: 2/10

Scare test 3 – scary reality

The two scariest things that have happened to me in the last five years were – being mugged by a motorcyclist, and catching burglars in our flat while my boyfriend was away. But in both cases the fear came afterwards and I had no control of either situation.

So I decided to try something scary for pleasure: the correfoc – or fire run – in Barcelona is an event where thousands of people flock onto the city’s streets and squares, racing after devils and dragons that spew fireworks and firecrackers, while a deafening drum beat plays. Though locals are blasé, you can easily get burned –you just launch yourself into the crowd and hope for the best.

Result: I can’t say I totally loved it – running at people armed with firecrackers didn’t feel natural, or safe. But it did give me the biggest buzz - not just from the danger but also from the group experience.

Fear Factor 9/10

Fun Factor 7/10

Playing with fire

So, at the end of my non-scientific study, what are my conclusions? I understand more why the adrenalin rush is addictive – and I also realised fear is strongest for me when it’s close to home. Zombies don’t cut it.

Scientists suggest we might be programmed to enjoy fear for evolutionary reasons. Exploring and hunting has led to human progress so being rewarded for risk-taking makes sense.

Second-hand fear?

But when it comes to scary stories, I think it’s about wanting to experience fear second-hand, via the hero’s adventures – it’s why most thrillers end with some kind of positive outcome. We want the good guys to win so we can believe that we’ll win our real life battles too.

That’s certainly where I’m coming from in Soul Beach ­– I want my heroine to be braver and better than the rest. Though as I approach the end of the trilogy, I’m wondering if it’s realistic to have her win… I am genuinely scaring myself as I put her in more and more danger.

But outside my writing, I won’t be booking a bungee jump any time soon. Fear for me is a bit like the gym – so much better when it’s over!

Kate’s second instalment in the Soul Beach trilogy, Soul Fire, is out now, published by Orion. www.kate-harrison.com

Many thanks to Kate and Indigo for arranging this.

Angel Fire Blog Tour: L.A. Weatherly on Love Triangles

I'm very pleased to welcome L A Weatherly to Teenage Fiction For All Ages today as part of her Angel Fire Blog Tour. Angel Fire is the sequel to the very well-received Angel.

Synopsis
Only Willow has the power to defeat the malevolent Church of Angels - and they will stop at nothing to destroy her. However, Willow is not alone. She is with Alex, a trained Angel Killer - and her one true love. Together, they must train a new generation of Angel Killers. But as a half-angel, Willow can't help feeling like an outcast, even with Alex by her side. So when a handsome stranger with a tortured past arrives at the AK camp, Willow finds herself inextricably drawn to him.


You can find out more about the series at the Angel website and on twitter: @Angel_Book and now over to L A:

Love Triangles

What’s the appeal of love triangles?

From an author’s point of view, the answer’s simple: once a fictional couple confesses their love for each other and feels secure in that love, such as Willow and Alex at the end of Angel, you then have to find other challenges for them to overcome. Much as I adore both Willow and Alex, an entire novel of them happily proclaiming their love to each other would be pretty boring to write – and even worse to read! So bringing in the character of Seb as another romantic interest was a great way to add tension and drive. (Also, Seb can be very persuasive. Once he’d made his presence known to me, there was no way he was not going to be in the story.)

I think that’s why readers enjoy love triangles so much, too. Though logically they might hate the idea of anything threatening Alex and Willow’s romance, deep down that’s exactly what they do want: to experience the delicious agony of things not working out, and then the catharsis of a satisfying payoff. (I won’t give away any spoilers, but I think readers will be happy with how things work out in Angel Fire!) And of course, there’s the added appeal of being able to imagine yourself as Willow, with two gorgeous boys in love with you.

Though I was aware of all that while writing Angel Fire, I also wanted to keep things very real, and not avoid difficult or painful situations. While I loved the Twilight series, for instance, there never really seemed much doubt to me that Bella would end up with Edward. In Angel Fire, I wanted to push things further; to genuinely challenge Willow and Alex’s love with a character Willow is both attracted to and has deep feelings for – and who, in many ways, is absolutely perfect for her. Both Willow and Alex – and Seb, come to that – go through the emotional wringer in Angel Fire; their love is tested in ways they never even imagined.

I loved writing Angel Fire, though as always I became very emotionally involved in the story myself, so that it was a relief to write that final, cathartic scene! I won’t say too much yet about how things might go on to develop in book three, Angel Fever …except to say that I rather imagine we haven’t seen the last of the love triangle yet.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy reading Angel Fire as much as I did writing it – and I’ll look forward to hearing whether you’re Team Alex or Team Seb! ;).

Many thanks to L A and Usborne

The previous stop on the tour was at Daisy Chain Book Reviews and don't miss the next stop on Tuesday at Bookbabblers.

Blog Tour: Jeyn Roberts Guest Post

I'm very pleased to welcome Jeyn Roberts, author of the newly released Dark Inside, to Teenage Fiction For All Ages where she is guest posting about Teenage/YA thrillers she's enjoyed reading. Firstly, here are details of her book and the trailer:


Synopsis
Moments after several huge earthquakes shake every continent on Earth, something strange starts happening to some people. Michael can only watch in horror as an incidence of road rage so extreme it ends in two deaths unfolds before his eyes; Clementine finds herself being hunted through the small town she has lived in all her life, by people she has known all her life; and Mason is attacked with a baseball bat by a random stranger. An inner rage has been released and some people cannot fight it. For those who can, life becomes an ongoing battle to survive - at any cost! Since mankind began, civilizations have always fallen - now it's our turn!

Trailer




You can follow Jeyn on Twitter, @JeynRoberts, and her website is here and you can read an extract from Dark Inside at My Kinda Book.

And now over to Jeyn:

Hi everyone! I’m Jeyn Roberts and I’m the author of Dark Inside.

I love horror stories. Love them, love them, love them! I’ve always been crazy about them. When I was younger I used to watch with a pillow in my arms so I could cover my eyes when the scary parts came. They gave me nightmares as a child and as a teenager it became a little easier to fall asleep at night. That’s when I started reading everything I could find in the horror section of the library and book store.

So I’ve been asked to talk about some of the books I loved reading as a teen and some of the books I’ve enjoyed reading today. I must admit, when I was a teen, there wasn’t the amazing variety of YA books that are now on the shelves. I spent a good part of my teen years reading Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Poppy Z Brite. What can I say? I really loved the horror. Stephen King’s Pet Sematary and It horrified and thrilled me beyond belief. The Teen books I loved and read to death were anything by Christopher Pike, The Band by Carmen Adams, and if you can ever find it, I highly recommend The Stranger by Caroline B Cooney.

Lately there’s been a great surge in thriller YA novels and I swear, my book shelf is starting to sag in the middle. I just finished reading Blood Red Road by Moira Young and I was completely blown away by it. I also loved Across the Universe by Beth Revis, and I’m currently reading the Demon Trapper series by Jana Oliver. Speaking of series, I really enjoyed Gone, Vampire Academy and I can’t wait to pick up Charlie Higson’s new book.

With thanks to Jeyn Roberts and Macmillan Children's Books.

The next stop on the tour is So Little Time For Books.

Blog Tour: Helen Moss Guest Post

Earlier this year I ran a week of "young crime solver posts" and included in this was a review of The Mystery of the Whistling Caves by Helen Moss and I subsequently voted her the new Enid Blyton :).

I'm now very pleased to welcome Helen to Teenage Fiction For All Ages and she has kindly written a guest post on safety in fiction:

Don’t Forget your Life Jacket!

When I first showed a shiny new hot-off-the-press copy of The Mystery of the Whistling Caves to my mum, her first comment (after saying well done, that’s wonderful) was ‘Shouldn’t they have their life jackets on?’



With the utmost restraint and maturity, I managed to suppress an eye-roll. Isn’t that just what a Mum would say!

I should know! I say it to my boys every day. Well, not exactly that, because we live miles from the sea and the only body of water they encounter on a daily basis is a large puddle on the drive. But I’m forever reciting the land-lubbers’ equivalent; don’t forget your bike helmet/shin pads/gumshield/bullet proof vest (okay, I made that last one up, but you get my point?)

Sometimes I feel like a One Woman Health and Safety Inspection.

So, when writing an adventure series featuring twelve and thirteen year old heroes, I knew I had to be careful not to wrap the characters in cotton wool. After all, they are fictional and their raison d’etre is to have adventures.

An adventure book without heaps of peril would be about as exciting as reading those one of those swimming pool warning signs (No running, no jumping, no laughing, no splashing, no petting - until the age of eight, I thought that last one meant you weren’t allowed to take your cat in with you!)


J K Rowling is famously quoted as saying “I’m not writing to make anyone’s children feel safe.” I agree. Of course, it’s more straightforward when the book is set in a fantasy world. When you’re single-handedly fighting off six dragons and a giant serpent with nothing but the sword of doom, no one’s going to worry about elbow-pads. Especially when broken bones can be fixed with a healing potion or magic spell.

Adventure Island is not a fantasy world, so it’s important that the young heroes aren’t seen as doing things that are totally reckless or irresponsible. On the other hand, it’s not gritty realism either. It’s clearly a fictional island, and although the characters are (I hope) identifiable as believable people in believable situations, there is an element of "suspended disbelief". For a start, if there were really that many serious crimes per head of the population in one summer, surely the government would have declared a state of emergency by now? I’m sure that even the youngest readers understand this is not real life, but are happy to go along with it for the sake of a good adventure.

So I didn’t dwell on life jackets and bike helmets. They were left unmentioned so that readers could imagine the characters wearing them if they wanted. However, in one of the later books (which I’m currently writing) I have made a point of mentioning bike helmets when the friends cycle into the busy town on the mainland, rather than the quiet moorland roads of the island, and also life jackets when they have to venture into dangerous rocks in their rowing boat.

Other than that, I’ve come up with a couple of guidelines I try to follow in the safety/peril stakes (in conjunction with my wonderful editor at Orion, Amber Caraveo. We’ve had many a long discussion on the life jacket issue!)

The young heroes never deliberately walk into a dangerous situation without a very good reason. However, if it’s necessary to save someone from danger or avert disaster, they don’t shy away. So, when the vanishing skeleton is dashing into the disused tin mine to blow it up, the boys follow to try to stop her. When a film star is dangling from a cliff, about to plunge to certain death, Jack rescues her with ropes (making sure he has a safety line attached!). When Drift, the dog, runs under the fence of the old quarry, the friends go in after him.



Danger can also arise through situations beyond their control. In The Mystery of the Whistling Caves, Emily knows how long they have in the caves before the tide rises and cuts off the exit – and the friends are very careful to make sure that they can get out in time; they’re not to know that a violent storm would make the sea levels rise higher than usual.

One thing I do insist on – as a Mum and as an author - is that both my real and fictional kids always let someone know where they are going. Emily and Scott roam Castle Key island, but they do say where they’re going (it’s not spelled out every time, of course; that would get a bit boring. But there’s a reminder now and then.) So for example, in The Mystery of the Missing Masterpiece, Emily creeps out into the night to follow a suspect, but she leaves her parents a note to say that she is taking the dog out for a few minutes’ walk.

This lesson came home to me as a child when I copied an idea I’d seen, not in a book, but on a TV programme called, Why don’t you switch off the TV and do something more useful instead? I’m sure anyone over a certain age will remember it well!

The brilliant idea was to take a Random Walk. Go out of your front door, and at every choice point, flip a coin to turn left or right and see where you end up! I longed to try this out and finally bullied my friend, Jackie, into joining me.

I think we must have lost track of time. I don’t remember much about where we ended up. Only a lot of relieved-slash-furious recriminations from my Mum when she eventually found us in a wood far from home – this was well before the era of mobile phones, of course. What were you thinking! Wherever have you been? It’s dark! You could have been killed!

I probably said something flippant at the time, (accompanied by an eye-roll, of course!) like; “Oh yeah, killed? What by? A rogue badger?” (we lived in the middle of the countryside.) But deep down, I must have got the message that it hadn’t been one of my better ideas.

For the next few weeks my mum was suddenly very keen to let me stay at home and watch telly all day though!

Many thanks to Helen and Orion Childrens.

There are currently six books available in the Adventure Island series (with four more planned for 2012). You can read about them at the official Adventure Island website which includes a map of Castle Key Island and blogs from the main characters.

Helen Moss's own website is here.

The blog tour began on 19th at Book Angel Booktopia and day two was at Serendipity Reviews.

Blog Tour: Joss Stirling Guest Post

To celebrate the eagerly awaited release of Stealing Phoenix, sequel to one of my favourite reads of last year, Finding Sky, author Joss Stirling is on "tour". Today she stops by Teenage Fiction For All Ages and writes about "The Savant Olympics"

Synopsis
What do you do when your soulmate turns out to be a thief? Steal her, of course. Phoenix was raised within the Community, a gang of thieves with paranormal powers, under the control of a harsh master known as the Seer. The notion that there's a soulmate out there for every person with a paranormal gift is mere myth in Phoenix's world. That is until the Seer gives Phoenix the details of her next target, Yves Benedict. He's more than just her next victim, he is her destiny. To be together, Phoenix must break away from the Community but resistance against the Seer puts them both in mortal danger. Phoenix has never trusted anyone before, now it's time to trust Yves with her life.


Trailer

The Savant Olympics

As you might know by now, Stealing Phoenix starts off explosively at the new site for the 2012 Olympics. This got me wondering what kind of Olympics the Savants could hold. They would have an unfair advantage over the rest of us – Zed for example would know exactly where you were going to put the ball in any of those disciplines – football, tennis, hockey etc etc. But if they were playing others like them they could expand the Olympic disciplines in weird and wonderful directions.

So let’s imagine my seven Benedicts limbering up at the start of their competition (please I get to design the strip!).

Trace – he is the one who knows where things have been by touch. This would lend itself to a Round the World in Eighty objects race. The contestants would have to follow the path from artifact to artifact, with each clue leading to the next. A marathon for trackers.


Uriel – he sees the past. This is a tricky gift to turn into an Olympic sport as it sounds more useful for Time Team. Perhaps the guys in his discipline could be each given a ruin (Colosseum, Parthenon, etc.) and have to rebuild it (resources unlimited) exactly as it was on the day it was first opened.


Victor – he in many ways has the scariest power of all the brothers as it involves meddling in the minds of others. I suppose he could enter into a competition to run the most perfect opening ceremony. Watching the Beijing one, you had to wonder if there wasn’t some kind of mind control going on! I’ve got a feeling the London one is going to be less smooth…


Will - I have a soft spot for this guy, everyone’s best mate, tuned for danger. I think we could run a great event for him, like a kind of Capture the Flag where the contestants have to evade ‘the enemy’ to gain the prize. Set him down in the wilderness and let him show what he is made of! Bear Grylls, eat your heart out!


Xav – we already know that Xav rocks at downhill slalom so he could enter the real Olympics without cheating. His healing skills would make him a must as your team therapist.


Yves – so much potential here! How about long distance lighting of the Olympic torch? Or blow up the archery butts rather than shoot them? If we are thinking large, how about a strong of mountaintop beacons just like in The Return of the King, but lit by Savants from afar?


Zed – he can do a little bit of everything but I think he would enjoy a really difficult motorcycle course with random accidents waiting to happen. Those with foreknowledge would have to use it to avoid coming to disaster. Mario Carts, move over!

Many thanks to Joss and Oxford University Press.

The next stop on the tour is at Daisy Chain Book Reviews.

The previous stop was at Serendipity Reviews.

Follow Joss on twitter: @jossstirling and her website is here.

Blog Tour: Mary Hooper - Guest Post, Extract & Giveaway

Today is the final day of Mary Hooper's Blog Tour for her stunning new book, Velvet and Mary has kindly written a guest post about her Fantasy Dinner Party Guests:

Fantasy Dinner Party
(five people, living, dead or fictional that you would invite and why)

Do people still have dinner parties? I would probably have an Indian takeaway then we can all gather around the foil dishes and I wouldn’t have to worry about all that cooking.

Elvis Presley. He was my number one crush when I was fourteen. I had 120 photographs of him on my wall and I used to kiss every one of them before I went to bed. When I saw a trailer of TWILIGHT the other day I realised why girls had gone mad over Robert Pattison: he looks just like a twenty year old Elvis. Only not quite as gorgeous.

Heathcliff. I can’t see him fitting into a dinner party, or helping the other guests to a spoonful of Bombay pickle, and he’s a bit of a bad-boy cliché, but when he was invented by Charlotte Bronte he wasn’t a cliché at all. He’d hate everyone at the party and brood a lot, and when he left early we could all talk about him.

Jo Brand. I love Jo. I love her dry wit and her deadpan delivery, I love that she doesn’t care. I think I could be best friends with her. I don’t think she’d get on with Philip Larkin as a person, however, so I’m looking forward to a lively debate over the Tikka Masala.

Paul Whitehouse. Okay, I know he’s been around a while now, but he’s still my favourite comic. So versatile – the list of “characters” he has played or invented is endless. And nothing is funnier, or more poignant, than Ted and Ralph. It’s one of those rare pieces that make you laugh and cry at the same time.

Philip Larkin. Witty, erudite and a bit of a dark horse (impassive behind his glasses, but what about all those women he had on the quiet?) his poems linger in my mind like no others. From the endlessly debated and read-at- weddings, An Arundel Tomb, to the simple truth of This be the Verse to an eight-line poem about Myxomatosis which can reduce me (an ardent lover of rabbits) to tears, Larkin has a poem to cover it. Perhaps he’d care to immortalise my dinner party in a few well-chosen words...

Thanks very much Mary and Bloomsbury for allowing Teenage Fiction For All Ages to take part in the tour.

You can find out more about Mary Hooper at her website.
You can check out the earlier stops on the tour via her Facebook page

Scroll down to read an extract from Velvet and to enter the giveaway to win 8 of Mary's books.

Synopsis
Velvet is a laundress in a Victorian steam laundry. With both her mother and father dead, she is an orphan and has to rely upon her own wits to make a living. The laundry is scalding, back-breaking work and Velvet is desperate to create a better life for herself. Then Velvet is noticed by Madame Savoya, a famed medium, who asks Velvet to come to work for her. Velvet is dazzled at first by the young yet beautifully dressed and bejewelled Madame. But soon Velvet realises that Madame Savoya is not all that she says she is, and Velvet's very life is in danger ...A romantic and thrillingly exciting new novel from an acclaimed and much loved historical writer for teens.

Trailer




Extract
Velvet by Mary Hooper - chapter one.


Giveaway

Thanks to Bloomsbury, I have one set of: At the Sign of the Sugared Plum, Petals in the Ashes, The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose, At The House of the Magician, By Royal Command, The Betrayal, Fallen Grace and Velvet to giveaway.


The giveaway is open to UK entrants only and the closing date is 20 September 2011. To enter please complete the form below.

Blog Tour: Johnny O'Brien

To celebrate the release of the third of the time-travelling Jack Christie Adventures, Day of Vengeance, and a stunning new cover-look for the series, author Johnny O'Brien is stopping by today to talk about his writing process and research.

My reviews of:
Day of the Assassins
Day of Deliverance
Day of Vengeance (review coming soon)

Read more about the Jack Christie Adventures at the Templar website and on Facebook and follow the tour here.

Over to Johnny:

I write mainly at weekends, as I have a day job where I work for a range of sinister global corporations. We have an old higgledy-piggledy farmhouse with very low beams and the floor is uneven so I am usually writing at an angle – which probably explains a lot! The room I write in is cold in winter and cold in summer – but there are great views – including of a field outside with our eleven sheep – I wouldn’t say I draw inspiration from them – but it is strangely relaxing watching them.

When it comes to research, there is no beating visiting the real places – whether Hampton Court, King’s College Cambridge or the Eiffel Tower. In Day of Deliverance, Jack and Angus climb up one of the towers on the College and then hide in the gap above the fan vaulted ceiling and the roof – you wouldn’t know these little things unless you had been there or talked to people who know about it. Sometimes in research, however, you do have to resort to good old fashioned books. The next Jack Christie Adventure takes place in China and I have actually been to China but unfortunately so much has so profoundly changed that a lot has to be gleaned from books and this is really hard. I try and make things accurate, but sometimes things are just not known and so you just kind of have to make your best guess.

The next stage is actually putting pen to paper. I find that I write a structure which is maybe about ten pages long which sets out what happens in each of the chapters. By then though I find myself losing patience and I want to get on with it, so I usually start with a chapter that is easy and fun to write – like a good action scene. What I find though is that as you work through the book things change – sometimes quite profoundly and you just can’t work out every detail before you start. Also the act of actually writing stimulates new ideas and pathways which sometimes replace the original ideas. One problem with all this is the time travel theme which can introduce horrible logical dilemmas and structural issues which can mean you have to go back and start again. And of course that’s all before the editor gets hold of it!

If I am not in the mood to write, sometimes I will go through the previous chapter that I wrote and edit that and that kind of gets you into the swing of things and then I’m ready to break new ground. So I edit as I go along, but once finished, the book will need three or so full read throughs and edits by me before I submit it to the publisher. Even when I go back and read the finished books now there is stuff that I want to change – it’s all quite painful! I have to say though, a good editor is absolutely invaluable and you have to accept that once they get hold of the book, they will make suggested changes and there will be re-work. This can be a challenging process – but it invariably ends in a much better book.

Many thanks to Johnny and Templar for arranging this.

Blog Tour: Kate Harrison

Orion have launched their Indigo imprint of YA titles and one of the first ones is Soul Beach by Kate Harrison. I have been drooling over this one since I first heard about it and it's as good as I'd hoped.

As part of the Soul Beach tour, Kate Harrison has written a guest post on crime fiction - a topic dear to my heart.

First, here's the blurb for the first book in the Soul Beach trilogy, parts 2 and three are scheduled for July 2012 and 2013 respectively.


Synopsis:
When Alice Forster receives an email from her dead sister she assumes it must be a sick practical joke. Then an invitation arrives to the virtual world of Soul Beach, an idyllic online paradise of sun, sea and sand where Alice can finally talk to her sister again - and discover a new world of friendships, secrets and maybe even love ...But why is Soul Beach only inhabited by the young, the beautiful and the dead? Who really murdered Megan Forster? And could Alice be next? The first book in an intriguing and compelling trilogy centred around the mystery of Megan Forster's death.




Secondly, here's the trailer:



and third, there is an extract (and more) on the Soul Beach website.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS…

The moody beachfront cover of Soul Beach suggests dark plots and extreme danger.

But when I was writing my first thriller, my influences were a little less scary than the image suggests. Without realising it at the time, I was following in the footsteps of Enid Blyton. Or the giant paw prints of Scooby Doo...

Because in Soul Beach, the young aren’t just the victims – they fight back.

Children – young girls in particular – appear all the time in crime fiction, meeting more than their fair share of grisly ends. It’s easy to see why they’re tempting for a novelist: an attack on innocence is shocking and suggests genuine evil. And in this generation, more than ever before, children are protected and monitored, constantly made aware of stranger danger. When adult protection fails, it’s everyone’s worst nightmare.

In contrast, the ranks of the investigators are dominated by detectives wrinklier than a Sharpei dog. That’s why when I had the idea for Soul Beach, I wanted my teenage heroine to take action, rather than be a passive victim. And I’ve realised I can trace that desire back to my own childhood reading and viewing.

When I was growing up in the seventies and eighties, it felt different: we really could disappear for hours without our parents panicking. And that was the case in books, too. Enid Blyton’s rather stuffy heroes spent their free time uncovering derring-do as Secret Sevens or Famous Fives. Scooby and his teen chums specialised in uncovering supernatural goings on that always turned out to be smoke and mirrors. I was never a big Nancy Drew fan, but she was a player, too. Back then, kids got their hands dirty.

In Soul Beach, my own hands are far from clean when it comes to killing off the young. Everyone on my paradise shore is young, beautiful – and dead. But my earthbound heroine, 16-year-old Alice, takes control of their fates and her own.

Making this happen wasn’t easy. Most teenagers complain about the restrictions placed upon them– and I knew that Alice’s parents, devastated by the murder of her elder sister, would be so anxious that they wouldn’t let her out of their sight. So how could I give her an active role in solving Meggie’s murder? Plenty of authors kill off awkward parents, or send them abroad, but that seemed too easy to me.

My solution tapped into another thing parents often fear – the internet. Alice seems safe in her bedroom – but with every click, she’s putting herself in danger. The online world draws her in, and it’s unclear if anyone is controlling her. Yet the internet also offers her answers, as she investigates why people end up on the Beach and why her sister lost her life.

Thriller or investigative elements in YA books seem to be on the increase.... and with that, there’s less passivity in our heroes and heroines. From the sleuthing efforts of Christopher in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, to Todd’s determination to find out what lies beyond Prentisstown in Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking trilogy, the young are determined to find out the reality beyond the world adults try to show them.

OK, it’s a darker world than Blyton’s. But as Alice faces her fears to find out who killed her sister, I think Scooby’s tail would be wagging furiously in support.

Many thanks to Kate and Indigo for arranging this.

You can read about all Indigo's titles on their website.